BEST CRUISE FOR PANAMA CANAL?? with a Full transit but shortest number of days

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Yeah! DH has been gone on business all week. I want to talk to him about cabin preference and was going to book this weekend. I will start a Roll Call if one is not started and let you know. Someone on my Roll Call for my April cruise is also looking at this one.:D

Tikibird - I started a Roll Call. Here it is:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1025359

[blue_water]

My husband and I are thinking of postponing our Yellowstone trip this fall and instead take a Panama Canal cruise all the way through.This has been a dream of his and everyone states that the prices to cruise now are better than they have been but i have no idea which cruise or ship. also what about the height of the cabin/deck for viewing? Left or right of the ship? We would prefer a 10 day because it is tight to get off work for the longer cruises. Someone told us that you can fly to a location closer to the canal and board the ship from SanJuan? Arbua? or another port and shorten the number of cruising days? I am trying to process this all quickly and i am not sure i can do this without your help!!Thanks

 

Look at Princess or Royal Caribbean. Princess sails out of Fort Lauderdale to Acapulco (or vice versa) on an 11 night cruise, we're looking at that rather than the full 14 day to San Diego. We would prefer to spend a few days in Mexico rather than sail for 14 days. Looks like a great option for the full transit

Check cruisesonly or here for pricing.

[Lorey2007]

I am so confused, will this intinerary take us through the Panama Canal and locks?

 

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida5:00 PM

At Sea

At Sea

Aruba7:00 AM 12:30 PM

Cartagena, Colombia9:00 AM3:00 PM

Panama Canal, Panama5:00 AM 3:30 PM

Colon (Cristobal), Panama4:00 PM 7:00 PMLimon,

Costa Rica7:00 AM 6:00 PM

At Sea

Ocho Rios, Jamaica9:00 AM 4:00 PM

At Sea

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida7:00 AM

[BillB48]

I don''t want to bet the farm on it seeing that I don't know what ship you are on and not having read the cruise line's description... so much for the disclaimer! The itin you posted does look like it goes through the Gatun Locks. Once reaching Gatun Lake passengers who have tours will be tendered off and the ship will lock back through Gatun Locks and procced to the dock in Cristobal.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I am so confused, will this intinerary take us through the Panama Canal and locks?

 

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida5:00 PM

At Sea

At Sea

Aruba7:00 AM 12:30 PM

Cartagena, Colombia9:00 AM3:00 PM

Panama Canal, Panama5:00 AM 3:30 PM

Colon (Cristobal), Panama4:00 PM 7:00 PMLimon,

Costa Rica7:00 AM 6:00 PM

At Sea

Ocho Rios, Jamaica9:00 AM 4:00 PM

At Sea

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida7:00 AM

This itinerary looks like a partial transit with a turn around in Gantun Lake. Any itinerary that starts and ends in FLL would be a partial transit. In other words, yes, you will enter the canal through the locks, enter the lake, turn around and then exit the canal through the same set of locks. A full transit starts in the Atlantic and ends in the Pacific or vice versa.